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TISM must be pretty happy; signed to Festival Mushroom Records, most of their more obsessive fans having now dropped out of Art college, graduated computer science and working for a good income � as conservative as TISM purport to be in the CD liner notes, and able to buy their new �bestoff� CD. (Don't bother writing in - this refers to someone specific. - Ms .45)
It feels like Fushroom don�t let them get away with as many, um, TISMisms as they used to. Both this CD and De Rigueurmortis were a bit too conventional � that is essentially very good, but from a band who released a 7� single glued inside a 12� cover, you expect something to negate the experience.
�bestoff� is subtitled �retrospective works 86/02�. The theme of the CD cover is art and gallery, but once TISM say they�re art, I think they�re obliged to try to take art down from within. The gallery photos were of a pretty normal exhibition: cover artwork and costumes and the format of the CD didn�t deal with art at all. Where was the handheld audio guide offering wanky art justifications before each piece? Or dubbed over each piece?
Having casually acquired a couple of TISM CDs when I saw them cheap and bought De Rigueurmortis because it came with a free gig, this is probably the CD I was looking for. All the classic TISM is there: Defecate On My Face, Greg! The Stop Sign!, Lillee Caught Dilley Bowled Milli Vanilli and others.
For a limited time unknown to me, �bestoff� comes with a limited edition bonus disk, a collection of �bedroom recordings 1982-1992�. This is of great anthropological interest, but it might not be a selling point for everybody. If you�re listening on a computer, my tip is to play the tracks in reverse (chronological) order.
�bestoff� functions well as a TISM primer for those who are yet to dabble in the balaclava-ed ones and the trainspotting TISM fans will know better than me what material on the CD is hard to get. Everybody needs a little TISM, even if just for something ironic to play when the neighbours downstairs are playing their shit suburban crap (sounds a lot like domestic violence set to music).
three and a half stars
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